Author: Jonathan Aitken
Let’s be honest, most HR conversations are wrapped in buzzwords. “People are our greatest asset.” “We’re committed to developing talent.” “We want to nurture careers.” It all sounds good on a conference slide deck. But in the real world, we know something more fundamental drives people: they come to work to earn money.
If people could make the same money sitting at home, many would. That’s not cynicism, it’s realism. Work, for most, is a transaction before it’s a passion. It’s a choice between earning an income or not, and everything else is built on that foundation. The sooner HR acknowledges that, the better we can design systems, incentives, and workplaces that actually work.
What Really Motivates People
Human motivation is far more complex than the usual “engagement” posters make it out to be. People want four key things:
- Certainty:
Employees need to know where their next paycheck is coming from. They want clarity, a reliable income, a fair boss, and predictable expectations. Without this, anxiety takes over and performance drops. Certainty is the baseline of all motivation. - A Dash of Uncertainty:
Total predictability becomes boredom. People need some challenge, some variety, a reason to grow, but within boundaries. Too much uncertainty feels unsafe; too little makes work soul-destroying. The trick is to manage that tension intelligently. - Significance:
Everyone wants to feel that what they do matters, that their effort is noticed, their ideas count, and their work contributes to something. Recognition and purpose are not “soft” concepts; they’re vital drivers of discretionary effort. - Connection:
Work is social. Even the most independent contributors want to feel part of something. a team, a cause, a culture. HR’s role is to help foster authentic connection, not forced “teambuilding days,” but meaningful human interaction and trust.
What HR Really Is About
HR isn’t just about policies, benefits, or compliance checklists. At its best, HR is about creating a supportive structure that enables people to meet these four needs in a way that aligns with the organisation’s goals.
That means designing clarity into roles, ensuring pay fairness, building communication channels that actually work, and empowering managers who can lead, not just manage. It’s about understanding that engagement is a byproduct of structure, not slogans.
The HR professional’s job isn’t to make people happy; it’s to make people effective. That happens when the systems of work, pay, recognition, feedback, accountability, and culture, are designed for real humans, not the theoretical ones described in textbooks.
Calling a Spade a Spade
So let’s call a spade a spade. HR isn’t about cuddles and slogans, it’s about alignment. Aligning what people want (income, stability, purpose, and connection) with what the business needs (productivity, innovation, and commitment).
When that alignment works, people are enabled to add value to the organisation.
It’s time to tell HR like it is, not as a department of empathy and enforcement, but as a strategic function of structure and fairness.